Comment Re:Linux already runs on thousands of cores (Score 1) 462
I bet that saves on licensing costs.
You'd think that, but a lot of HPC software gets priced either by-core or by-socket...
Comment Re:Linux already runs on thousands of cores (Score 3, Interesting) 462
Um, no.
The early Itanium-based Altixes (Altices?) could go up to 512 cores running a single copy of Linux. The new Nehalem-based Altixes can have up to 2048 cores in a single system image IIRC. We just finished acceptance testing on an SGI Altix UV 1000 with 1024 cores. It runs one copy of Linux on it.
Comment Re:Windows 7 scales to 256 cores (Score 1) 462
The current limit is 2048 cores in a single system image, IIRC. I currently run an SGI UV 1000 with 1024 cores (128 8-core Nehalem EXs), and that's not the biggest possible configuration of that hardware.
Comment Re:How does this differ from glusterfs? (Score 1) 132
I remember that the guys who originally wrote Coda basically abandoned it and moved on to doing Lustre...
Comment Re:I'll probably got modded into oblivion... (Score 5, Funny) 349
Yes, yes you are. Go and sin no more.
Comment Re:I hate clouds and care bears!! (Score 1) 158
cloud computing = grid computing + virtualization - security - performance
Comment Been done. (Score 1) 93
I thought there was already a game based on Dante's Inferno, called "Where the Hell is Carmen Sandiego"...
Comment Re:That's ok (Score 1) 171
The point of a parallel file system is that you do not need RAID.
Really? Why has virtually every production parallel file system implementation I've ever seen (using GPFS, Lustre, and PVFS) been done on top of hardware RAID controllers?
Comment That is admittedly a very sexy looking car... (Score 2, Funny) 790
...but for $2.1M, it had better be the frickin' Batmobile. Complete with Batman as the chauffeur.
Comment Parallel programming is hard, film at 11. (Score 5, Informative) 626
The
One area where I disagree with TFA is the claimed paucity of programming models and tools. Virtually every OS out there supports some kind of concurrent programming model, and often more than one depending on what language is used -- pthreads, Win32 threads, Java threads, OpenMP, MPI or Global Arrays on the high end, etc. Most debuggers (even gdb) also support debugging threaded programs, and if those don't have enough heft, there's always Totalview. The problem is that most ISVs have studiously avoided using any of these except when given no other choice.
--t
Comment Re:Who cares? (Score 1) 173
No one uses Linux for anything important.
Other than every supercomputer on the planet worth talking about, that is...
Comment Re:Why always nuclear simulation? (Score 1) 248
Why always nuclear explosions simulation is the primary use for this type of computer?
Uh, because it's paid for out of the NNSA budget?
Sun Exec Backs GPLv3 94
Hyperbeth writes "Sun's chief open-source officer Simon Phipps said that existing work towards GPLv3 had been 'extraordinary and effective' and he said he is 'frankly amazed by the criticisms'. The article notes that Mr. Phipps' comments are somewhat surprising, given that the recent open-sourcing of Java went forward with GPLv2." From the article: "I am frankly amazed by the criticisms that have [been] levelled at the GPLv3 process. They seem to ignore the incredible and positive way it is evolving and just find fault with things that are already the subject of work... I would be very surprised if the final GPLv3 was not an effective tool for some of the communities Sun sustains or will initiate in the future."
Submission + - Google helping DoD track certain searchers
jcaruso writes: "Blogger Mark Gibbs says he was searching on Google for "binary explosives," and Firefox popped up a warning that a Web site certificate involved in the transaction couldn't be verified — the certificate was issued to the Department of Defense. Writes Gibbs: "So, it looks like the Department of Defense with Google's help is tracking me because I used a suspicious search term. It also looks like either the DoD aren't really good at stealth or they want me to know that they are watching. Definitely lame either way.""
German Minister Seeks Jail Time For FPS Players 383
GamePolitics has the somewhat unbelievable news that German Minister of the Interior Gunther Beckstein is seeking jail time for violent game developers, publishers, and players. MSNBC has further coverage of the issue, which has pro gamers in Germany quite worried. From the article: "The draft law, a reaction to a school shooting that shook German public opinion last month, will come before the upper house of parliament next year. But it is already sending shockwaves through the 2m-strong German online gaming community. 'We have among the most drastic censorship rules for games,' said Frank Sliwka, head of the Deutsche E-Sport Bund, an umbrella federation for German online gaming teams. 'Now we are being labelled as a breeding ground for unstable, dysfunctional and violent youngsters.'"
